Chapter 648: Ineffective Hypnotism
Wendy Stewart sized up the house as she descended the stairs. Despite her partial amnesia, she seemed to find the residence familiar.
She scanned the living room, scrutinizing the furnishings one at a time. Her sense of familiarity around the house increased strongly.
Following her intuition, Wendy turned to the left as she reached the bottom of the stairs. It was indeed where the dining room was located.
Wendy felt even hungrier as she got a whiff of the aroma of the dishes. There was a transparent vase that held a bouquet of lilies in the middle of the dining table.
The fragrance of the flowers blended with the scent of the food lightened her mood, although she was feeling dull.
Christian Lucas strode forward from behind her. He pulled out the chair and made a gentlemanly gesture for her to sit.
"These were all your favorite dishes. Do you like them? Your food preferences would probably remain the same even though you lost parts of your memory," he said gently.
Wendy looked at the food in front of her. It was indeed to her liking. She nodded and stepped forward to sit on the chair that Christian had pulled out for her. He sat next to her and picked up a pair of chopsticks, quickly filling the empty bowl before Wendy with heaps of food.
"Wendy, how much do you remember? You seemed to know how to get to the dining room when you came downstairs earlier on." As Christian said this, his gaze lifted slightly to observe her expression.
Somehow, Wendy’s brows furrowed as she looked at the bowl full of food. A scene of someone putting food in her bowl emerged in her mind.
But, Wendy detested the person in the picture. She had even thrown out all the food in the bowl in disgust. No matter how hard she tried, she could not recall what the person looked like.
Wendy raised her head to look at Christian. Pursing her lips, she answered his question first, "I don’t know how much I remember either. I just walked here instinctively after getting to the bottom of the stairs. Did I use to live here? Maybe that’s why I remembered?"
Christian eased his mind upon hearing Wendy’s answer and saw that she was acting naturally. Looking relieved, he smiled and said, "Since you still have a subconscious memory of the past, you will definitely regain your conscious memory gradually."
"I guess so," replied Wendy.
"Weren’t you hungry? Quickly have some food. It’ll break my heart if I accidentally starved you and the baby in your belly." Christian was still putting food in Wendy’s bowl even though it was already full.
His smile was full of anticipation. In the past, Wendy had never eaten any of the food that he picked for her. His eyes were fixated on her hands, waiting expectantly for her to pick up the food in the bowl.
With her head lowered, Wendy decided to clarify her doubts, "Something came to mind when I saw you picking food for me."
Christian froze, and his expectant smile slowly faded away. He looked at Wendy and tried to sound her out, "What came to mind?"
"I remembered that someone used to do the same for me, but I seemed to hate that person," Wendy replied truthfully. "However, I can’t seem to remember who that person was."
Christian, who was initially worried when she said her first line, breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the latter. It was best that she could not remember.
With a solemn expression, he said, "It is probably Michael Lucas. He might have forced you to eat with him during the period when he held you captive. You have always hated him. Maybe it’s for the better that you leave such unpleasant memories behind."
"Michael Lucas," Wendy muttered his name. Suddenly, she asked, "Can I see what Michael Lucas looks like?"
...
Christian Lucas’s gaze was fixated on Wendy Stewart. Her request caused the look in his eyes to gradually change from relief to solemn and fear.
He lowered his head slightly as if he no longer dared to look into her eyes. Seeing that he was deliberately avoiding eye contact, Wendy frowned.
"Why the sudden wish to see how he looks?" Christian picked up his chopsticks to take a bite of the food in his bowl, concealing his flustered mood.
"I mean, since I lost my memory, I would like to find out more about the people affiliated with me," said Wendy. "Maybe seeing his photo can trigger certain aspects of my memory?"
"Those are all unpleasant memories; it’s a good thing that you don’t remember them," replied Christian. "Besides, you just woke up. You must not rush to recover your memory; haste will only make waste.
"Didn’t you find our house familiar? You can stay home and walk around the house more; I’m sure you will regain your memory slowly but surely."
What Christian said made some sense. According to him, Wendy was abducted by Michael Lucas, whom she detested very much. Hence, it was expected for Christian to not want her to remember anything linked to Michael.
However, seeing Christian’s lowered gaze, Wendy felt there must be other reasons he did not want her to find out what Michael looked like.
She had just regained consciousness, and her mind was still in a mess. She did not know whether she should place her trust in Christian.
And there was Zen Tanner. Wendy still remembered Zen and that they had always been the closest of friends.
However, her memory of Zen seemed to only last till shortly after they graduated from university. She had no memory of what happened between them after that.
Wendy looked at Christian and asked, "Where’s Zen? Wasn’t she also injected with the memory-erasing serum while trying to save me? Where is she now?"
"She is resting upstairs, but she hasn’t woken up yet," said Christian. "Her injuries are more severe than yours. She was heavily wounded from Michael’s tortures."
"I’m going to see her," Wendy said as she put her chopsticks down. She had lost all appetite.
However, as soon as she stood up, Christian followed suit and reached out his hands to hold her shoulders. Gently, he said, "Have some food first. We can go see Zen after dinner.
"Don’t worry, she is all right. The doctor said that she would wake up after a while.
Maybe she will regain consciousness by the time we finish eating."
Wendy was indeed feeling hungry. She reached her hands to touch her belly. Even if she did not feel like eating, she had to think about her baby. After some hesitation, she nodded and sat down again.
Christian looked at the untouched food in Wendy’s bowl. "Hurry, take a bite. The food will get cold soon," he said as he continued to place food in her bowl that was already full.
The food in her bowl had piled up like a mini hill. However, resistance could be observed in Wendy’s lowered gaze.
Christian saw that Wendy had the chopsticks in her hand but did not take a single bite. "Why aren’t you eating?" he asked.
Ultimately, Wendy decided to express her request, "About that, I’d like to get another bowl, can I?" Her tone was pleading.
Her request would have been very hurtful if Christian was her husband. However, she really did not wish to eat the food that he had picked for her somehow.
Christian’s expression instantly became bitter.
"Well, there are many things that I can’t remember, but I just don’t feel comfortable eating food that others have picked for me. Maybe this was because of Michael Lucas," explained Wendy.
...
Christian’s expression returned to normal in just an instant. It happened so quickly that Wendy wondered if she was imagining things.
He reached out his hand and placed an empty bowl in front of Wendy, then picked up the bowl full of food and threw it into the garbage bin.
Seeing his actions, Wendy guessed that he had gotten angry at her request. She wanted to say something, but the atmosphere was a tad heavy.
After some hesitation, Wendy decided to remain silent and simply lowered her head to get on with her dinner. Although Christian did not say a word, she felt that he had a cold aura around him, as if he was about to lose his temper and flip the dining table in the next second.
She ate as fast as she could and stood up and said, "Um, I’m done. You can continue eating slowly. Which room is Zen in? I’ll go see her."
"Okay, she is in the room right next to yours," replied Christian.
"Thank you," Wendy thanked him politely as if they were merely acquaintances.
Christian watched as Wendy turned around and left the dining room in a hurry. His expression turned cold and heavy; he slammed his chopsticks on the table.
Even though Wendy had no memory of Michael Lucas and thought that he was just a drug lord, she was still resistant towards Christian. This was not the result he wanted.
He had been waiting for Wendy to eat the food he had picked for her, but she asked for an empty bowl in the end.
Christian shut his eyes and took a deep breath. What else must he do to make Wendy fall in love with him? He felt bothered and upset.
The next moment, he overturned the dining table furiously. All the cutlery and crockery on the dining table fell to the ground and broke into pieces.
Upon hearing the commotion, Christian’s assistant rushed into the dining room immediately. "Mr... Mr. Lucas, is there anything wrong?" his assistant asked softly and fearfully. He was afraid that Christian would vent his anger on him.
"This hypnotism doesn’t seem to be that effective," said Christian with a heavy breath.
"This... " His assistant guessed what was going on and asked, "Has Ms. Stewart regained her memory already?"
"No, she hasn’t, but she obviously has doubts about me." There were not many people Christian could talk to, so he shared his woes with his assistant.
His assistant heaved a sigh of relief when he heard Christian’s worry. He consoled Christian, "Ms. Stewart had just regained consciousness, plus, she lost so much of her memory. It is natural for her to be a little skeptical. Hypnotism only erases some of her memories and forcefully instills some fictitious ones.
"Mr. Lucas, you love Ms. Stewart so much and so sincerely. I believe that over time, she will definitely believe everything you say. Moreover, she will definitely fall in love with you. But, you can’t be too anxious. After all, she just woke up, and it takes time for her to digest and accept reality."
His words comforted Christian. Christian clenched his fist and slammed it against the arm of the chair beside him. "Yes, I was rushing into things. I should give her some time; she will definitely fall in love with me in the end." It sounded like he was talking to himself instead of his assistant.
"Mr. Lucas, you are such a capable man, and you treat Ms. Stewart so well. There’s no reason she would not fall in love with you," his assistant said with a smile.
Capable? Christian laughed mockingly at himself. Soon, it turned into hysterical laughter.
His assistant was a little shocked when he saw Christian like this. "Are you all right, Mr. Lucas?"
"It’s nothing; you can go now," Christian curbed his laughter and waved at his assistant, who immediately took the opportunity to excuse himself.
